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This week, however, the Minnesota Vikings’ MVP candidate spoke more like a humbled running back than the one who amassed 409 combined yards in two matchups with the Packers this season, accounting for 19.5 percent of his total rushing yards this season.

As Press-Gazette reporter Rob Demovsky writes, much of that is due to the performance of Packers fourth-year defensive lineman B.J. Raji, who made five solo tackles and two for loss against the Vikings on Sunday and will again be a catalyst for the Packers’ run defense in today’s wild-card round rematch at Lambeau Field.

While many cornerbacks and linebackers struggled to match Peterson, at least one of the 11 came out on the winning end of the grading scale in an otherwise losing effort.

“He’s an outstanding player, man,” Peterson said of Raji. “I’ve always had respect for him being just a diverse player. A big guy, 320, 330 pounds. Short. Stubby. But strong as an ox and just extremely quick and athletic. You don’t see big guys like that. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could dunk a basketball.”

*Press-Gazette sports editor Mike Vandermause examines how the Packers have turned around some of their misfortunes from last year with the infusion of young talent on both sides of the ball (http://tinyurl.com/a3jw9cu).

*Our Packers notebook leads with Minnesota quarterback Christian Ponder being listed as questionable for today’s game with an elbow injury, along with Aaron Rodgers’ reaction to the controversial Twitter comments of Greg Jennings’ sister. (http://tinyurl.com/b38pzlt).

*The Press-Gazette beat writers predict the outcome of today’s game between the Packers and Minnesota Vikings (http://tinyurl.com/abjlp5o).

*Press-Gazette reporter Pete Dougherty gives you three things to watch for in today’s game, including the health of Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield and Charles Woodson’s run-stopping ability coming off a broken collarbone (http://tinyurl.com/a4cc832).